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Friday, April 22, 2011

Kraszanki - Polish Easter eggs

Kraszanki are a type of Easter eggs that are made by scratching the surface of a dyed egg with something sharp. You scratch the dye and thus make a drawing on the egg. You can scratch anything you want :) We used to make all kinds of branches and flowers.

I'll show you how to make kraszanki step by step.

1. First you need to prepare the dye. You can of course use dyes available at the shops but we always dyed the eggs in natural dye made out of onion peels.You need a pan you don't mind getting coloured - it happens to some pots and pans. Then you strip the onions of the outer layers - the ones that come of when you rub them with your fingers, the dry papery ones. You may use red onions if you want a slightly reddish colour. For some additional reference on natural colouring look atTips for Easter.

2. You pour water over the onion peels - as much water as to cover the eggs you want to dye. Cook the peels for 10 - 15 minutes for them to release colour and then add eggs and boil as long as you need - the colour will be more saturated if you boil eggs longer. Or put the eggs in the water with peels and boil them together (this will take longer).

3. Let the eggs cool and pick something sharp - a razor, a knife or a compass and scratch away. Look below to see what it really is all about.

4. Show off you beautiful eggs to the whole family and proudly announce that you made them all by yourself :)